Hello there!

   "Don't call me that!" He snapped at me and I ignored him, trying to pick out his name from all the tangled threads of thoughts in my head. Amby...Ambes...Ambreese...Ambrose! Yay! See, I was not drunk! Just a little...

  -half-ratted?

   Uh...no...

    His little finger kept on moving against his side as he kept his icy glare on me and I gave a small cough, waving my hand which his hand was not holding.

  "I mean, nice to see you here, Mr... Ambrose?"

  His icy glare only lowered its...tempatre in return and I gave him a grin.

  "Soooo..." I stretched out the word, laughing at the funny sound it was making and nearly missed the sudden movement of his lips. "What are you doing here? I mean, here, on the ship to-where are we going? Ah, yes, Inda, no, India!-not like here, with me-Hey! You can give me back my hand now! I'm standing very...balancedly...myself."

   "Indeed, Mr. Linton? You do not seem very sure about your footing, or anything else, for that matter."

  "Yes, indeed!"

  He simply let go of my arm, still glaring at me and I took a step back carefully not to lose my banalce; how come I had not noticed how close we had been standing just now, and why the bloody hell was it making my head spin?

  Ignoring it, I tried to remember what had I asked him, but to no avail. Blast!

  "You distracted me! I was saying something and now because of you, I forgot it!" I scowled at him and his eyes narrowed by 0.0000374 inches.

   "Indeed? I do not remember telling you to follow me on HMS British Queen, get intoxicated in the steerage, nearly pick a fight with someone five times bigger than you and accuse me of making you forget what you were saying, do I now?" He took another step towards me, cold anger flashing in his sea blue eyes and I scrunched my nose at him. "In fact, I clearly remember telling you to do the exact opposite of what you just did!"

  "I could have definitely beat him to a pulp easily by myself!" I poked a finger at him, and his eyes narrowed by another 0.0000047 inches. "I did not need any rescuing anywhere, I am telling ya!"

  One second I was glaring at Mr. Ambrose and the other second I almost, nearly got a black eye, dodging the fist swung at me by 0.0083 inches, and at the same moment, the floor decided to attack me. Bloody hell!

  Thankfully, before the floor got to me, another hand had pulled me up by my waist. What the hell! As soon as I had located my hand, I punched him-in the arm, that is- glaring at the stone statue which was infuriatingly giving me one of its superior looks without moving a single muscle on his face. Argh!

  "I am certainly astonished to observe how easily you could have beat that man, Mr. Linton."

  "Of course I could have! I just wasn't prepared right now!" I moved in closer to him, making sure to stamp on his precious fifteen year old mint conditioned shoes as I stood on them.

  "Why can't you comprehend this, Mr. Linton?" His voice dropped down to an angry whisper, his hand on my waist pulling me unconsciously closer to him. "This is no time or place to joke around! There is danger, deceit, probably a war over the file and plenty of Dalgliesh's men around where I am heading! It is no safe place for an English lady, even if she is in trousers! You-"

  "That won't be a problem for me," I piped up with a smile,"I think I have already established that I am far from any ladylike norms, haven't I?"

  He gave me a 'shut-your-mouth-right-now' look, his eyes darting down to my lips before continuing. "Cease jesting around, Mr. Linton! Dalgliesh already knows about...about your employment under me, and he will leave nothing to try to hurt me-"

   "-which is why I am here, so don't you worry, Amby-uh, I mean, Mr. Ambrose." I gave him a wide reassuring grin, which according to the 'Stone Statues' Miniscule Expressions' Dictionary' and his moving finger, wasn't quite as assuring as I mean it to be. Oh well.

  "I will make sure to drag your miserable behind back all the way to London, with your 'oh-so-precious' file if you insist, and no son of a bastard ain't going to stop me!" I grinned widely as the piggies laughed and cheered at my words, turning to look at Mr. Ambrose's still serious face, nearly bordering on frustration.

  "This is not funny, Mr. Linton!" He nearly snapped at me, wiping off my grin immediately and replacing it with a pout. "You're no fun!"

  His hands gripped my shoulders tightly, not letting me look away from his stormy blue eyes. "Don't you understand, Mr. Linton?! Dalgliesh will hurt you, even kill you if possible! I cannot-" He stopped, his jaw clenched and he took a breath deeper than the last, his features rearranging in his usual impassive exterior.

   There was a tense moment of silence as I and the piggies looked at him, surprised at his outburst. He took a step back from me, and I immediately wanted to take a step ahead.

  Heck! This was stupid! I was not drunk, so my legs better bloody behave like I wanted them to, and not like I was drunk!

  One of the piggies nudged my leg, pushing me towards the still statue in front of me. I cleared my throat loudly, and ended up coughing. Bl-cough, cough- oody- cough- hell!

  "You should probably go to sleep now, Mr. Linton. We shall talk about this when you are sober, and actually in a position to comprehend my words." He turned around, speedily walking down the corridor.

  "Hey! I'm as much drunk as you are a lady!" I shouted after him, my scowl turning into a grin when my loyal piggies oinked in agreement. See, I was not drunk at all; even the piggies agreed with me!

  Turning around, I started walking down the corridor, towards my own cabin, trying to remember exactly where had I come...two left turns, onety...no...teny...er...ten steps down, then straight, then one right...

  Argh! Why the bloody hell was this...this floating thing so confusing! Even the piggies didn't remember the way! Blast! And I wanted to sleep!

  Scowling at the forgetful piggies, I started counting my steps again, holding up a finger for each step...one...two...tree, I mean, three-

  Thud!

  "Bloody hell!" I punched the floor right in its face as soon as I found my hand. Looking around, I saw that even the piggies had been attacked! Oh no! "Why you stupi-"

  "If you are done resting on the floor in the middle of the corridor and wasting time talking to no one in particular, then may I enquire where were you going, Mr. Linton?"

  I craned my neck to look up at the figure above me, giving him a scowl as he looked impassively at me. "I wasn't resting! The floor attacked me!"

   "Indeed, Mr. Linton. Now get up and stop wasting time." I scoffed at him, trying to locate all my hands and legs at once and made sure to take my own damn time to get up carefully, giving no chance for the floor to attack again. Absolutely not!

  "Hurry up, Mr. Linton. I do not have the entire night to waste waiting for you to get up."

  "Why y-hic!"A hiccup burst from my throat, and I laughed at the funny sound, falling down on my generous behind again as I was just getting up. Blast! Okay, now Lilly, get up slowly...

  "Hic!"

  I burst out in laughter again, before the floor attacked me so violently that I was flung up in the air, and I closed my eyes tightly waiting for the impact, but there was nothing. Strange-Ow!

  A hand had swung me up on its shoulder, the firm muscles digging in my stomach and leaving me hanging upside down. Bloody hell! All the blood rushed to my head, making the black spots return, dancing in front of me. Argh!

  "Let me down, you son of a bachelor! And don't you dare drop me!" I poked his sculpted back, hitting him; trying to get him to put me down, but the damned statue didn't even respond, simply taking long strides as if he was taking a stroll in the park! This insufferable bastard!

  "I do not like repeating myself; I do not have the entire night to waste Mr. Linton. The rate at which you were getting up, it would have been morning already till we reached the cabin, hence I decided to undertake this faster, and more effective alternative."

  Blast him! Who did he think I was! I was no brainless damsel in distress who would clutch onto him tightly or let him carry me everywhere, absolutely not! I was an intepand suffergist! I had my own perfectly fun...funshuning legs, and I demanded to be allowed to use them as I wished!

   Besides, the way the floor and walls were lunging at me, I would rather be on my own...foots and fight them with the Great Army of the yellow piggies than be dragged around like this!

  But the view from here is rather nice, isn't it?

  Even more blood rushed to my face than before and I could hardly feel my legs.

  No!

  "I demand to be put down this instant! I can walk very well on my own! Put me down Mr. Ambrose, or else..."

  The grip on my waist tightened and his usual cold voice dropped even furthur in its tempatre.

  "Indeed, Mr. Linton? Or else what?"

  I swung my legs, scowling at his back, but he caught them at the last moment, holding them in place with a single hand. Before I could poke him with my elbow, his other hand had disappeared from my waist and I felt myself slip off his shoulder.

  The bloody cheek of the basta-

  A second had passed and I peeked out from one eye when I did not feel the floor. A pair of sea blue coloured eyes looked impassively at me, from a distance that was, well, not distant enough for polite society. Or any society for that matter.

  My skin seemed to be extra aware of his arms around me, holding me tightly close to him like I was some doll he didn't want to share with anyone else, and the organ in my chest was making a loud ruckus all of a sudden. I put my arms around his neck, just in case he really decided to drop me on the floor this time. No way!

  Bloody hell! Where did my speaking organ disappear all of a sudden? This was tallely inconve...inconneviant! I still had to tell Mr. Ambrose to put me down at once, I had to find my capbin-

  "Mr. Linton?"

  What was I saying...?

  Get a grip Lilly! Intepand suffergrist!

  Oh, yes, yes...I was a suffergrist! Now where was that stupid voice thingy of mine? Ah, found it!

  "Mr. Ambrose...I-"

  "Do not even think of threatening me ever again. There will be consequences." His eyes flickered to my lips again before  Do you understand me, Mr. Linton?"

  "What consequences, Mr. Ambrose?"
I tilted my head back by a few inches, trying to clear the tangled up threads of thoughts in my head. The stupid things seemed to be more and more muddled up the more my eyes kept on settling on his lips. Blast!

  His eyes settled on my lips, their clear blue shade darkening slightly and I nearly lost my voice again. "Dangerous ones, Ms. Linton. It would be advisable to heed my advice on this matter."

  His voice was just a murmur, his lips only inches from mine and the threads nearly vanished from my head. Good riddance. I pulled him closer, my fingers softly stroking the skin on his neck and he shivered slightly before pressing his lips to mine fervently.

  "Too bad I don't take advice from anyone, Mr. Ambrose."

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  Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

  I'm veeeery proud how this chapter turned out and hopefully you'd also have enjoyed it! Any feedback is welcome!

  Vote and comment if you think this chapter was better than the previous one! Have a nice day!

  Yours truly,
Ifrit5789.